1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to integrated circuit devices and more particularly to microcontrollers that incorporate pulse width modulation circuitry.
2. Description of Related Art
The 8051 style microcontroller core is a microcontroller core that is commonly used in "embedded control" applications. The term "8051 microcontroller" hereinafter includes any microcontroller that executes, at least, a substantial portion of the well-known 8051 microcontroller instruction set. Embedded microcontrollers are frequently found in appliances (microwave ovens, toaster ovens, mixers, bread making machines), computers and computer related equipment (printers, modems, I/O cards, disk drives, scanners), automotive related devices (engine control, suspension control, diagnostics, traction control, anti-lock brakes), and manufacturing machinery (numeric control, stepper motor control, hydraulic presses, machine control, robotic control). Often more than one microcontroller can be found in a given machine, unit or device.
An 8-bit microcontroller is designed into many products and devices because of its small size, low power consumption and versatility. As the market for 8-bit microcontrollers continues to grow, manufacturers of microcontrollers scramble to make more efficient and useful microcontrollers which meet the needs of the industry.
Some microcontrollers include pulse width modulation circuitry in the integrated circuit. To date there have been drawbacks to the pulse width modulators incorporated into microcontroller circuitry. Such drawbacks include the inability of the user to change important aspects of the pulse width modulator such as the bit-width or resolution. Furthermore, prior pulse width modulators found in microcontrollers cannot be concatenated or divided to establish one large pulse width modulator or a plurality of smaller bit-width pulse width modulators.